On Feb. 16, 2016, plaintiff Marnie Rogers, 42, a trucker, underwent a left total hip arthroplasty, performed by Dr. Lee Tocchi, an orthopedic surgeon, at Rideout Memorial Hospital, in Marysville. Rogers claimed that after the operation, she experienced left hip pain and found that her left leg was longer than her right leg. She was evaluated by a physician’s assistant at Tocchi’s office, who measured the left leg as approximately 1 inch longer than the right leg. Six months after the surgery, Rogers ceased following up with Tocchi, who never examined her post-operatively. Rogers claimed that her leg-length discrepancy was then measured by a number of different providers, who yielded measurements from one-half inch longer on the left to one-half inch longer on the right. In October 2017, Rogers was examined by another orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Ronald James, who measured her left leg as 1.5 inches longer than her right leg. Post-operative imaging also revealed that the single screw used to stabilize the acetabular cup was protruding beyond the bone medially into the pelvis. On Feb. 16, 2018, James performed a revision surgery on Rogers’ left hip. During the procedure, James found that the pelvic (acetabular) component had loosened, so he replaced and re-oriented it, but he left the femoral stem in place. During the final post-operative visit on Oct. 18, 2018, James found that Rogers’ post-operative pain had resolved. James also measured Rogers’ left leg as less than one-quarter inches longer than her right leg. Rogers sued Tocchi, alleging that Tocchi was negligent in the performance of the total hip arthroplasty. Rogers’ treating orthopedic surgeon, James, testified that Tocchi’s placement of the acetabular cup was reasonable under the circumstances and that the placement of the femoral stem was perfect. James was also reluctant to agree that a leg-length discrepancy of 1.5 inches was below the standard of care and testified that leg-length discrepancy occurs in approximately 27 percent of hip-replacement surgeries. However, James opined that the most likely cause of Rogers’ continued hip pain after Tocchi’s initial surgery was the loose acetabular cup. Rogers’ expert orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Edward Younger III, opined that a leg-length discrepancy of 1.5 inches, as measured by James, implicated a substandard surgical technique by Tocchi. Specifically, he opined that both the acetabular and femoral components were improperly placed. He was also critical of the screw holding the acetabular cup protruding beyond the boney margin of the medial pelvis. However, the expert could not say to a medical probability whether the protruding screw caused any injury or damage to Rogers. The defense’s expert orthopedic surgeon opined that all clinical attempts to measure leg-length discrepancy are inherently inaccurate and that the subject case was a perfect example, given the wide variance of measurements of Rogers’ leg lengths by different practitioners. The expert also opined that Tocchi’s placement of the hardware components during the hip arthroplasty met the standard of care and that it was improbable that the medially protruding screw caused any injury to Rogers., Rogers claimed that she suffered from left hip pain and that her left leg was 1.5 inches longer than her right leg after the initial surgery performed by Tocchi. Rogers underwent revision surgery on her left hip on Feb. 16, 2018. She claimed that her pain had resolved after the revision surgery and that her left leg was measured as being less than one-quarter of an inch longer than her right leg after the revision surgery. Rogers sought recovery of $14,359 in past medical costs for the cost of the revision surgery. She also sought recovery of $75,000 to $100,000 per year in general damages for her past pain and suffering between Tocchi’s surgery and the revision surgery.